Readers Respond: True Confessions - How Often Do You Repair Ball Marks?

Responses: 27

By Brent Kelley, About.com Guide

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I always tried to repair my ball marks each time I hit it onto the green, (which, unfortunately, is not very often). I thought I had been doing it (the repair) correctly but now that I have seen the right way to do it, I will need to modify my method to ensure that I fix the ball marks properly. I have to agree that it is frustrating to find ball marks on the green that have not been repaired. And, it is more than annoying when these marks are in close proximity to the cup.
—Guest Ric Taylor

I always repair my pitch marks and any others that I find on the green and I am a great believer in the fact that if we all repaired our pitch marks religiously, I would never have to repair two - just mine! And it would be one per green! Having said that, surely the method of repair recommended here must very much have to do with both the grass on the green and how wet the green is. In dry conditions the method recommended here will tear craters on the green! I play golf in the tropics and can confirm that working inwards from the edeges of a pitch mark on a 'hard' green carries the tear risk, especially when there is not enough water on the putting surface.
—Guest Njung'e

I mostly play on a muni, and almost always fix my mark, although, until today I was doing it the wrong way. As Don does, my playing partners and I fix others as well. e have two great courses, but many players don't seem to care about taking care of them.
—shankapotamus

I used my repair tool to lift the center of the ball mark. The correct fix (pushing the edges in) should be a part of all golf swing instruction!
—Guest Stefan

Always and then I fix those others leave. I am astonished by those that don't take time to fix something THEY created.
—Guest flyinghammer

I try to fix mine every time if I find mine. I also fix others as time permits and have been known to turn in golfers who are hitting several shots into the greens and not repairing them. This is very importnat to putting and chipping.
—bilgolf6192

If every player fixed two ballmarks on every green, there would be no more ballmarks! So all you geezers out there on the munis - put away your ball retriever and start fixing your ball marks on the greens!
—Guest Andrew

Hitting the green is a rare occurance for me so when it does happen I savor the moment by fixing the ball mark. Have a nice repair tool that I never get to use :). I think I may have been pushing the tool too far into the ground before reading this. Thanks for the tips!
—Guest Amateur!

I repaired all of mine incorrectly up to this point by lifting up because that's what I was taught. Luckily for me I don't hit the greens very often so I don't make that many! I'll be happy to switch my erroneous ways from here out, but it seems to me that this method would create tears from the edge/rim of the ballmark where you're pushing it towards the center. Perhaps I would simply be creating a gap though and not tearing the roots like before....
—Guest dont hit em

I fix all of my marks that I see. Sometimes we do not leave a visable mark. But I fix anyones mark that I see. Up to 4 or 5 per green, as not to slow up the group behind.
—Guest don

I repair ballmarks - mine and/or others - about 90 percent of the time I find them. As for the other 10 percent, part of that is just boneheaded "I forgot". Most of it is when there's a group behind that's really pushing us and I'm hurrying to get out of the way.
—Guest divottool